Zast
The third moon of the planet Alius, in the Terminus Systems. A habitable world, for centuries nobody set up long-term settlements on Zast, fearing the pirates and slavers who plague the Terminus and the nearby Nemean Abyss. That changed when a colony (technically illegal) was established there by a human group of former mercenaries, who brought their families with them. Zast possessed a fragile ecosystem, and within twenty years invasive species had almost completely disrupted it. Domestic pets and crops brought to Zast by the colonists displaced local species across much of the moon, and it was only through the combined efforts of several environmental charities that small areas of the original ecosystem were preserved. Analysts predicted the eventual failure of all such measures, given Zast’s status outside any governmental control. The colony itself, while proving self-sufficient, didn’t make enough profit to repair the damage, and without government assistance the ecosystem was expected to collapse entirely. Despite this, the colonists rejected several offers of aid from the Batarian Hegemony, all of which were contingent upon the moon becoming a batarian protectorate. Enter Trask Interstellar. In exchange for exclusive development and trade rights with the moon, the corporation would provide the support necessary to restore the natural ecosystem. Initial efforts include the establishment of numerous environmental outposts across the moon, the use of species-specific pesticides to control alien crops, and careful selective breeding of the remaining population of draca, a long-snouted nomadic forest creature driven nearly to extinction and having previously played a vital role in the ecosystem. Said Trask Interstellar CEO Maximilian van der Trask: “Unfortunately there are far too many colonies beset by environmental difficulties, and every species has thus far had something of a learning curve when it comes to establishing new homes. We humans are fortunate in that we not only have the collected experience of our predecessors to work with, but the means to fix our own mistakes. Zast will not become another Pragia. It is my sincerest hope that other corporations will follow suit and undertake such efforts on other similarly damaged worlds. If more environmental agencies were as open to negotiation as the colonists proved to be, I think the myth of the evil corporation could be dispelled once and for all.” Much of the money for the restoration came from a significant bounty placed on batarian criminal Abad Sam-mel, which was substantially reduced in size. When asked about the bounty, Mr. van der Trask offered the following: “The truth i''s, reducing ''the bounty was something I’d been planning on for some time. Amazing how many people will try to trick you into thinking they’ve met the conditions without any evidence whatsoever. When this opportunity to repair the damage to Zast arose, it seemed like a perfect way to channel a thing which I had done in anger into something genuinely productive. With any luck this will mean less incoming calls just because someone found a dead batarian.” When asked if this was part of a plot to avoid paying taxes on earnings, van der Trask declined to comment. Category:Locations Category:Terminus Category:Trask Interstellar